MICHAEL HEAZLE AND YUKI TATSUMI  |

Despite the recent rapid growth in Australia–Japan security ties and formal recognition of the common interests driving the 2007 Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation and several subsequent agreements, two major challenges to further growth in security cooperation between the two nations exist. One is the so-called ‘China gap’ between Australia and Japan driven by the difference in the two countries’ perceptions of China and its intentions; the other, despite the Abe government’s security reforms to date, is Japan’s ongoing ‘capability gap’, caused by constitutional constraints on, and domestic political opposition to, Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (JSDF) engaging in collective self-defence.

Associate Professor Michael Heazle and Yuki Tatsumi assess the drivers of, and prospects for, further security cooperation in the Australia–Japan bilateral relationship. They argue that while the China gap between Canberra and Tokyo over the balance of threat posed by China and Japan’s “capability gap” (i.e. Japan’s still significant domestic political limits to its collective self-defence capabilities) may restrain the pace of deepening Australian-Japan security relations, these gaps are diminishing and are, in any case, secondary to the specific shared interests we posit as the primary drivers of Australia-Japan security cooperation. These specific interests, however, are shaped not only by a commitment in both countries to liberal based principles and freedoms at home and in inter-state relations, but also by a common awareness of the importance of continued US primacy to the ongoing maintenance of those interests. Thus, in the absence of any fundamental change in how Australia and Japan understand their respective interests and the US role in the region, Donald Trump’s recent and unexpected election as US president notwithstanding, we conclude that the case for further security cooperation – via additional cross bracing of their respective US alliance relationships – will almost certainly remain compelling for both countries.

Read the full “Explaining Australia–Japan security cooperation and its prospects: ‘the interests that bind?’” article in The Pacific Review by Griffith Asia Institute Associate Professor Michael Heazle and Yuki Tatsumi.